115. Mitch Yung, wood-fired square vase

115. Mitch Yung, wood-fired square vase

 

 

 

 

 

For Yung, see item 108.

Brown stoneware, interior has Shino glaze; exterior unglazed but colored by wood-firing. Weight: 1428 g (3 lb). Top piece dimensions: roughly 6.3 cm square (2-1/2 in); width of sides: 9.3­–9.6 cm (3-5/8 – 3-3/4 in); height of sides: 19.6 cm (7-7/8 in). overall height: 22.5 cm (8-1/2 in).

This is a built-up piece made from four slabs for the sides, with an insert at the top to form the mouth. It sits on four legs, each about 1.3 cm (1/2 in) tall; protective felt disks were affixed to the undersides of the legs. Each side was scored with four irregularly space and uneven vertical grooves for its entire length. At the top, the upper ends of the sides slant slightly upward. The top is a squarish insert. Where it meets the sides, it angles outward for about a quarter inch. The upper side slants inward toward the square mouth from each side, creating diagonal lines from the corners of the outer square to the corners of the mouth. The artist’s mark, a stamped “Y,” was pressed into the exterior side of one of the legs (see the fourth photo).

Yung provides this description of the construction and firing of the piece: “Wood-fired stoneware with small feldspathic stone inclusions. Fired to cone 9-10 and reduction cooled, with a unglazed exterior highlighted by the natural flames in the kiln and a shino glazed interior. Slab built construction and carved to expose the coarse texture of the clay, sanded after firing to ensure a smooth surface. This was in a cooler and quieter spot in the kiln, it has some lovely subtle flame work on a toasty unglazed wild clay-body. Some of my best oranges come from the back of the kiln.” 

The top and on the upper parts of two of the sides show more darkening from the wood smoke. The other two sides have almost no blackening. The surface of this has a few rough spots.

Great colors on this. Deceptively coarse and simple-looking, this is a solid and substantial work—if Brutalism came to pottery, this is what it would look like.

Purchased from the artist, June 2021.